1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a heat exchanger for an automotive vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a plate-fin type heat exchanger, such as an evaporator, manufactured by folding a plurality of plates formed contiguously in a sheet of material.
2. Disclosure Information
Plate-fin heat exchangers are well known in the art. In these types of heat exchangers, a plurality of elongated plates are joined together, such as through a lamination process to define a plurality of passageways for the movement of a fluid therethrough. Each of the passageways is formed by the inwardly facing surfaces of a pair of joined plates. The interior surfaces of the joined plates generally define a central fluid conducting section. The passageways are interconnected so that a fluid may flow through the plurality of joined plates forming the heat exchanger. As is also known in the art, conductive fin strips are located between outwardly facing surfaces of the pairs of joined plates. Heat exchangers of this type have particular utility as evaporators for air conditioning systems of motor vehicles.
It is known to manufacture these types of heat exchangers from a plurality of interconnected plate members, stamped from a sheet of deformable material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,338, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, teaches one such method of folding a plurality of plate members in a zig-zag or bellows-like fashion to fabricate a heat exchanger core. A plurality of links interconnect the plate members. Upon folding, these links project from the heat exchanger core, making it difficult to stack cores one upon another without damaging an adjacent core. It would therefore be desirable to minimize the links and the amount the links project from the folded core.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat exchanger in which the projecting links have all been folded against the core to prevent damaging adjacent cores during a stacking operation.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of fabricating a heat exchanger from a plurality of plate members and bending the links against the core to minimize the amount the links extend from the core.